Contamination of the earth's surfaces and subsurfaces with compounds containing hydrocarbons polychlorinated biphenols, and other fats and oils, have long been a problem. There have been many attempts to solve this problem by the use of steam, hot water, or oil dispersing agents. All of these may unduly harm the indigenous flora and fauna that could actually be the greater part of the disposal process in the long term.
Many of the oil dispersing products contain chemicals that kill microbes. While it is true that in small quantities these chemicals may leave some microbes alive, they may also function to destroy most microbes including those that are beneficial.
Moving contaminated materials from one location to another does not eliminate the contamination. Transferring is not transforming. Therefore the hydrocarbon contaminates should be bioremediated insitu thereby limiting transferring toxic residue from one site to another and transferring the liability therewith.
This invention relates to a substrate bioavailability enhancing compound that will emulsify hydrocarbons, clean hydrocarbon contamination, and at the same time act as a nutritional carrier and hydrator for the added specially selected microbes that attach to the microscopic droplets of oil thereby produced, enhancing the digestion process, and inoculating the surface and subsurface for prolonged bioremediation of the contaminates on the surface or that may have penetrated into the substrate. The term bioremediation used herein refers to the use of living microbes to break hydrocarbons into their component parts.